Strategic memory games

ABSTRACT

A game of strategy includes a game board, pieces which are movable on the board after placement, and pieces which are not movable during a game once placed on the board. The identity of some pieces is hidden from some players, and may be revealed temporarily and then hidden again.

COPYRIGHT AUTHORIZATION

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

To the full extent permitted by applicable law, the present application claims priority to, and incorporates herein by reference the entirety of, U.S. patent application 62/139,679 filed Mar. 28, 2015, and U.S. patent application 62/143,058 filed Apr. 4, 2015.

DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a game board 102 with a spiral galaxy layout.

FIG. 2 illustrates some board pieces 202 used in some implementations of a strategic memory game.

FIG. 3 shows a closer view of some ship fleets.

FIG. 4 shows a closer view of some orbs.

FIG. 5 shows a closer view of some mine fields, also referred to as repellers.

FIG. 6 shows a closer view of some space rips.

FIG. 7 shows a closer view of some wormholes.

FIG. 8 shows an example game configuration after some play between two players.

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart.

DESCRIPTION Interpretation of Examples

The examples given below are merely illustrative, and are not intended to fully identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor are they intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

In particular, the themes, playing piece indicia, playing piece counts, number of actions per turn, suggested age for players, inclusion/exclusion of particular pieces, challenge results listed, piece colors, board layout, number of dice per player, number of dice faces, dice face indicia, and other specific implementations or expressions of the game mechanisms, protocols, equipment, and other components describe herein may be varied without departing from the intended essence of the family of strategic and memory games that is disclosed and claimed herein.

Some examples described herein may be viewed in a broader context. For instance, concepts such as chance, players, skill, turns, and winning may be relevant to a particular example. However, it does not follow from the availability of a broad context that exclusive rights are being sought herein for abstract ideas; they are not. Rather, the present disclosure is focused on providing appropriately specific examples whose technical effects fully or partially solve particular technical problems. Other media, systems, and methods involving chance, players, skill, turns, and/or winning are outside the present scope. Accordingly, vagueness, mere abstractness, lack of technical character, and accompanying proof problems are also avoided under a proper understanding of the present disclosure.

Reference is made to exemplary examples, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. But alterations and further modifications of the features illustrated herein, and additional technical applications of the abstract principles illustrated by particular examples herein, which would occur to one skilled in the relevant art(s) and having possession of this disclosure, should be considered within the scope of the claims.

SOME TERMINOLOGY

The meaning of terms is clarified in this disclosure, so the claims should be read with careful attention to these clarifications. Specific examples are given, but those of skill in the relevant art(s) will understand that other examples may also fall within the meaning of the terms used, and within the scope of one or more claims. Terms do not necessarily have the same meaning here that they have in general usage (particularly in non-technical usage), or in the usage of a particular industry, or in a particular dictionary or set of dictionaries. Reference numerals may be added in subsequent filings along with figures, but they are not required to understand the present disclosure. The inventors assert and exercise their right to their own lexicography. Quoted terms are defined explicitly, but quotation marks are not used when a term is defined implicitly. Terms may be defined, either explicitly or implicitly, here in the Detailed Description and/or elsewhere in the application file.

As used herein, a “computer system” may include, for example, one or more servers, motherboards, processing nodes, personal computers (portable or not), personal digital assistants, smartphones, cell or mobile phones, other mobile devices having at least a processor and a memory, and/or other device(s) providing one or more processors controlled at least in part by instructions. The instructions may be in the form of firmware or other software in memory and/or specialized circuitry. In particular, although it may occur that many examples run on workstation or laptop computers, other examples may run on other computing devices, and any one or more such devices may be part of a given example.

A “multithreaded” computer system is a computer system which supports multiple execution threads. The term “thread” should be understood to include any code capable of or subject to scheduling (and possibly to synchronization), and may also be known by another name, such as “task,” “process,” or “coroutine,” for example. The threads may run in parallel, in sequence, or in a combination of parallel execution (e.g., multiprocessing) and sequential execution (e.g., time-sliced). Multithreaded environments have been designed in various configurations. Execution threads may run in parallel, or threads may be organized for parallel execution but actually take turns executing in sequence. Multithreading may be implemented, for example, by running different threads on different cores in a multiprocessing environment, by time-slicing different threads on a single processor core, or by some combination of time-sliced and multi-processor threading. Thread context switches may be initiated, for example, by a kernel's thread scheduler, by user-space signals, or by a combination of user-space and kernel operations. Threads may take turns operating on shared data, or each thread may operate on its own data, for example.

A “logical processor” or “processor” is a single independent hardware thread-processing unit, such as a core in a simultaneous multithreading implementation. As another example, a hyperthreaded quad core chip running two threads per core has eight logical processors. A logical processor includes hardware. The term “logical” is used to prevent a mistaken conclusion that a given chip has at most one processor; “logical processor” and “processor” are used interchangeably herein. Processors may be general purpose, or they may be tailored for specific uses such as graphics processing, signal processing, floating-point arithmetic processing, encryption, I/O processing, and so on.

A “multiprocessor” computer system is a computer system which has multiple logical processors. Multiprocessor environments occur in various configurations. In a given configuration, all of the processors may be functionally equal, whereas in another configuration some processors may differ from other processors by virtue of having different hardware capabilities, different software assignments, or both. Depending on the configuration, processors may be tightly coupled to each other on a single bus, or they may be loosely coupled. In some configurations the processors share a central memory, in some they each have their own local memory, and in some configurations both shared and local memories are present.

“Kernels” include operating systems, hypervisors, virtual machines, BIOS code, and similar hardware interface software.

“Code” means processor instructions, data (which includes constants, variables, and data structures), or both instructions and data.

“Program” is used broadly herein, to include applications, kernels, drivers, interrupt handlers, libraries, and other code written by programmers (who are also referred to as developers).

As used herein, “include” allows additional elements (i.e., includes means comprises) unless otherwise stated. “Consists of” means consists essentially of, or consists entirely of. X consists essentially of Y when the non-Y part of X, if any, can be freely altered, removed, and/or added without altering the functionality of claimed examples so far as a claim in question is concerned.

“Process” is sometimes used herein as a term of the computing science arts, and in that technical sense encompasses resource users, namely, coroutines, threads, tasks, interrupt handlers, application processes, kernel processes, procedures, and object methods, for example. “Process” is also used herein as a patent law term of art, e.g., in describing a process claim as opposed to a system claim or an article of manufacture (configured storage medium) claim. Similarly, “method” is used herein at times as a technical term in the computing science arts (a kind of “routine”) and also as a patent law term of art (a “process”). Those of skill will understand which meaning is intended in a particular instance, and will also understand that a given claimed process or method (in the patent law sense) may sometimes be implemented using one or more processes or methods (in the computing science sense).

“Automatically” means by use of automation (e.g., general purpose computing hardware configured by software for specific operations and technical effects discussed herein), as opposed to without automation. In particular, steps performed “automatically” are not performed by hand on paper or in a person's mind, although they may be initiated by a human person or guided interactively by a human person. Automatic steps are performed with a machine in order to obtain one or more technical effects that would not be realized without the technical interactions thus provided.

“Computationally” likewise means a computing device (processor plus memory, at least) is being used, and excludes obtaining a result by mere human thought or mere human action alone. For example, doing arithmetic with a paper and pencil is not doing arithmetic computationally as understood herein. Computational results are faster, broader, deeper, more accurate, more consistent, more comprehensive, and/or otherwise provide technical effects that are beyond the scope of human performance alone. “Computational steps” are steps performed computationally. Neither “automatically” nor “computationally” necessarily means “immediately”. “Computationally” and “automatically” are used interchangeably herein.

“Proactively” means without a direct request from a user. Indeed, a user may not even realize that a proactive step by an example was possible until a result of the step has been presented to the user. Except as otherwise stated, any computational and/or automatic step described herein may also be done proactively.

Throughout this document, use of the optional plural “(s)”, “(es)”, or “(ies)” means that one or more of the indicated feature is present. For example, “processor(s)” means “one or more processors” or equivalently “at least one processor”.

Throughout this document, unless expressly stated otherwise any reference to a step in a process presumes that the step may be performed directly by a party of interest and/or performed indirectly by the party through intervening mechanisms and/or intervening entities, and still lie within the scope of the step. That is, direct performance of the step by the party of interest is not required unless direct performance is an expressly stated requirement. For example, a step involving action by a party of interest with regard to a destination or other subject may involve intervening action such as forwarding, copying, uploading, downloading, encoding, decoding, compressing, decompressing, encrypting, decrypting, authenticating, invoking, and so on by some other party, yet still be understood as being performed directly by the party of interest.

Whenever reference is made to data or instructions, it is understood that these items configure a computer-readable memory and/or computer-readable storage medium, thereby transforming it to a particular article, as opposed to simply existing on paper, in a person's mind, or as a mere signal being propagated on a wire, for example. No claim covers a signal per se. For the purposes of patent protection in the United States, a memory or other computer-readable storage medium is not a propagating signal or a carrier wave, which would place it outside the scope of patentable subject matter under United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) interpretation of the In re Nuijten case.

Moreover, notwithstanding anything apparently to the contrary elsewhere herein, a clear distinction is to be understood between (a) computer readable storage media and computer readable memory, on the one hand, and (b) transmission media, also referred to as signal media, on the other hand. A transmission medium is a propagating signal or a carrier wave computer readable medium. By contrast, computer readable storage media and computer readable memory are not propagating signal or carrier wave computer readable media. Unless expressly stated otherwise, “computer readable medium” means a computer readable storage medium, not a propagating signal per se.

Some Systems

An operating environment for a computer-implemented example may include a computer system. The computer system may be a multiprocessor computer system, or not. An operating environment may include one or more machines in a given computer system, which may be clustered, client-server networked, and/or peer-to-peer networked. An individual machine is a computer system, and a group of cooperating machines is also a computer system. A given computer system may be configured for end-users, e.g., with applications, for administrators, as a server, as a distributed processing node, and/or in other ways.

Human users may interact with the computer system by using displays, keyboards, and other peripherals, via typed text, touch, voice, movement, computer vision, gestures, and/or other forms of I/O. A user interface may support interaction between an example and one or more human users. A user interface may include a command line interface, a graphical user interface (GUI), natural user interface (NUI), voice command interface, and/or other interface presentations. A user interface may be generated on a local desktop computer, or on a smart phone, for example, or it may be generated from a web server and sent to a client. The user interface may be generated as part of a service and it may be integrated with other services, such as social networking services. A given operating environment includes devices and infrastructure which support these different user interface generation options and uses.

Natural user interface (NUI) operation may use speech recognition, touch and stylus recognition, gesture recognition both on screen and adjacent to the screen, air gestures, head and eye tracking, voice and speech, vision, touch, gestures, and/or machine intelligence, for example. Some examples of NUI technologies include touch sensitive displays, voice and speech recognition, intention and goal understanding, motion gesture detection using depth cameras (such as stereoscopic camera systems, infrared camera systems, RGB camera systems and combinations of these), motion gesture detection using accelerometers/gyroscopes, facial recognition, 3D displays, head, eye, and gaze tracking, immersive augmented reality and virtual reality systems, all of which provide a more natural interface, as well as technologies for sensing brain activity using electric field sensing electrodes (electroencephalograph and related tools).

One of skill will appreciate that the foregoing aspects and other aspects presented herein under “Operating Environments” may also form part of a given example. This document's headings are not intended to provide a strict classification of features into example and non-example feature classes.

As another example, a game may be resident on a game server. The game may be purchased from a console and it may be executed in whole or in part on the server, on the console, or both. Multiple users may interact with the game using standard controllers, air gestures, voice, or using a companion device such as a smartphone or a tablet. A given operating environment includes devices and infrastructure which support these different use scenarios.

System administrators, developers, engineers, and end-users are each a particular type of user. Automated agents, scripts, playback software, and the like acting on behalf of one or more people may also be users. Storage devices and/or networking devices may be considered peripheral equipment in some examples. Other computer systems may interact in technological ways with the computer system or with another system example using one or more connections to a network via network interface equipment, for example.

The computer system includes at least one logical processor. The computer system, like other suitable systems, also includes one or more computer-readable storage media. Media may be of different physical types. The media may be volatile memory, non-volatile memory, fixed in place media, removable media, magnetic media, optical media, solid-state media, and/or of other types of physical durable storage media (as opposed to merely a propagated signal). In particular, a configured medium such as a portable (i.e., external) hard drive, CD, DVD, memory stick, or other removable non-volatile memory medium may become functionally a technological part of the computer system when inserted or otherwise installed, making its content accessible for interaction with and use by processor. The removable configured medium is an example of a computer-readable storage medium. Some other examples of computer-readable storage media include built-in RAM, ROM, hard disks, and other memory storage devices which are not readily removable by users. For compliance with current United States patent requirements, neither a computer-readable medium nor a computer-readable storage medium nor a computer-readable memory is a signal per se.

The medium is configured with instructions that are executable by a processor; “executable” is used in a broad sense herein to include machine code, interpretable code, bytecode, and/or code that runs on a virtual machine, for example. The medium is also configured with data which is created, modified, referenced, and/or otherwise used for technical effect by execution of the instructions. The instructions and the data configure the memory or other storage medium in which they reside; when that memory or other computer readable storage medium is a functional part of a given computer system, the instructions and data also configure that computer system. In some examples, a portion of the data is representative of real-world items such as product characteristics, inventories, physical measurements, settings, images, readings, targets, volumes, and so forth. Such data is also transformed by backup, restore, commits, aborts, reformatting, and/or other technical operations.

Although an example may be described as being implemented as software instructions executed by one or more processors in a computing device (e.g., general purpose computer, cell phone, or gaming console), such description is not meant to exhaust all possible examples. One of skill will understand that the same or similar functionality can also often be implemented, in whole or in part, directly in hardware logic, to provide the same or similar technical effects. Alternatively, or in addition to software implementation, the technical functionality described herein can be performed, at least in part, by one or more hardware logic components. For example, and without excluding other implementations, an example may include hardware logic components such as Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Application-Specific Standard Products (ASSPs), System-on-a-Chip components (SOCs), Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs), and similar components. Components of an example may be grouped into interacting functional modules based on their inputs, outputs, and/or their technical effects, for example.

In some environments, one or more original game applications have software code whose behavior is defined according to some or all of the game components described herein. The code and other items may each reside partially or entirely within one or more hardware media, thereby configuring those media for technical effects which go beyond the “normal” (i.e., least common denominator) interactions inherent in all hardware—software cooperative operation. In addition to processors (CPUs, ALUs, FPUs, and/or GPUs), memory/storage media, display(s), and battery(ies), an operating environment may also include other hardware, such as buses, power supplies, wired and wireless network interface cards, and accelerators, for instance, whose respective operations are described herein to the extent not already apparent to one of skill. CPUs are central processing units, ALUs are arithmetic and logic units, FPUs are floating point processing units, and GPUs are graphical processing units.

Some examples provide a computer system with a logical processor and a memory medium configured by circuitry, firmware, and/or software to provide effects such as suspense, strategy opportunities, and other aspects.

In some examples peripherals such as human user I/O devices (screen, keyboard, mouse, tablet, microphone, speaker, motion sensor, etc.) will be present in operable communication with one or more processors and memory. Software processes may be users.

In some examples, the system includes multiple computers connected by a network. Networking interface equipment can provide access to networks, using components such as a packet-switched network interface card, a wireless transceiver, or a telephone network interface, for example, which may be present in a given computer system. However, an example may also communicate technical data and/or technical instructions through direct memory access, removable nonvolatile media, or other information storage-retrieval and/or transmission approaches, or an example in a computer system may operate without communicating with other computer systems.

Some examples operate in a “cloud” computing environment and/or a “cloud” storage environment in which computing services are not owned but are provided on demand.

Some Processes

Any step stated herein is potentially part of a process example. In a given example zero or more stated steps of a process may be repeated, perhaps with different parameters or data to operate on. Steps in an example may also be done in a different order than the order that is stated in examples herein. Steps may be performed serially, in a partially overlapping manner, or fully in parallel. The order in which steps are performed during a process may vary from one performance of the process to another performance of the process. The order may also vary from one process example to another process example. Steps may also be omitted, combined, renamed, regrouped, or otherwise depart from the illustrated flowchart 900, provided that the process performed is operable and conforms to at least one claim of this or a descendant disclosure.

Examples are provided herein to help illustrate aspects of the technology, but the examples given within this document do not describe all possible examples. Examples are not limited to the specific implementations, arrangements, displays, features, approaches, or scenarios provided herein. A given example may include additional or different technical features, mechanisms, and/or data structures, for instance, and may otherwise depart from the examples provided herein.

Some Configured Media

Some examples include a configured computer-readable storage medium. Medium may include disks (magnetic, optical, or otherwise), RAM, EEPROMS or other ROMs, and/or other configurable memory, including in particular computer-readable media (as opposed to mere propagated signals). The storage medium which is configured may be in particular a removable storage medium 114 such as a CD, DVD, or flash memory. A general-purpose memory, which may be removable or not, and may be volatile or not, can be configured into an example using items such as digital versions of game boards and pieces and code in the form of data and instructions, read from a removable medium and/or another source such as a network connection, to form a configured medium. The configured medium is capable of causing a computer system to perform technical process steps as disclosed herein. Examples thus help illustrate configured storage media examples and process examples, as well as system and process examples.

Additional details and design considerations are provided below. As with the other examples herein, the features described may be used individually and/or in combination, or not at all, in a given example.

Drawings Explored

FIG. 1 shows a game board 102 with a spiral galaxy layout. Board spaces 104, also referred to as board locations 104, are circular and packed closely together. In alternate embodiments, spaces 104 are triangular, square, pentagonal, hexagonal, otherwise polygonal, ovoid, circular, and/or irregular in shape, and/or may be separated by portions of the board on which pieces cannot move, and/or may be connected by lines indicating legal location changes. The example spiral galaxy board layout includes a galactic center location 106 and six spiral arms 108. Each arm has a tip location 110. In the example illustrated by FIG. 1, the spiral arm tip locations 110 bear wormhole identifiers designating the exits/entrances (i.e., end locations) of wormholes alpha and beta. In alternate embodiments, more or fewer wormhole ends are shown on the board, including none in some embodiments, and in some the wormhole ends are located in locations other than the arm tips, or located both at an arm tip and elsewhere. Locations not in any spiral arm are designated at 112. In some embodiments, the game venue is not a spiral galaxy, but is instead a single planet, or a planetary region, or a city, or a terrain, for example. In some, the theme is not outer space, but is instead historic, or an alternate history, or steam punk, or based on legend or fable or folklore, or derived from popular culture, film, TV, web entertainment, or other fictional or non-fictional characters, locales, and/or situations or events.

In this example, game pieces are implemented using selected and modified poker chips, and each of the board locations 104 is slightly larger than such a chip. In alternate embodiments, one or more different sizes of board locations and pieces is/are used.

FIG. 2 illustrates some board pieces 202 used in some implementations of a strategic memory game. In this example, game pieces are implemented using selected poker chips, some of which are modified by writing or otherwise placing indicia 212 on one face to differentiate the category of a piece (e.g., ship vs. orb vs. mine field), and/or to distinguish one individual piece from one or more other pieces 202 (e.g., infinity fleet Dart vs. burst fleet Slayzall).

Pieces shown include ships 204 organized in one fleet per player. In the example of FIG. 2, three fleets are shown, designated as a triangle fleet, an infinity fleet, and a star fleet. Other names, symbols, or fleet identifications can be used in alternate embodiments, and the number of fleets may range at least between two and six. In this example, each fleet includes one Slayzall 206, one Dart 208, and five Cruzers 210. In another example discussed below under the mark Slayzall™ (mark of Smiling Pines, LLC), ships which function similarly to Cruzers are denoted instead “Rippers”. For present purposes, Cruzers 210 and Rippers 210 have sufficiently similar functionality that they are each denoted herein by part number 210. In one embodiment, the fleets are designated by the following symbols: triangle, square, infinity, star, vortex, burst.

Pieces shown also include orbs 214. In this example, indicia on the orb piece front faces (shown) identify a star orb, vortex orb, burst orb, and triangle orb, in that order. Other indicia can be used in alternate embodiments. In some examples, the main role of an orb 214 is to be collected, since the first player to collect three (or some other designated number such as two, four, fix, or six) orbs wins. In other examples, including an example discussed below under the mark Slayzall™ (mark of Smiling Pines, LLC), orbs can also be traded for lost ships, by a “revive” or “restore” operation.

Pieces shown also include mine fields 216. In this example, indicia on the mine fields show a forbidden symbol, e.g., a circle with a diagonal line. In other embodiments different indicia are used, e.g., a ring of arrows directed outward from a center point.

Pieces shown also include wormholes 218. In this example, indicia on the wormholes shown Greek letter, e.g., alpha or beta. In other embodiments different indicia are used, e.g., a ring of arrows directed inward at a center point, or a tornado or twisting vortex symbol.

Pieces shown also include rips 220 or space rips 220, also referred to as rifts 220 and barrier 220 pieces. In this example, the rips 220 bear no indicia but are distinguishable from either side in that the rips 220 are primarily black while the ships, orbs, mine fields, and wormholes are all primarily white. Of course, other color schemes can also be used, e.g., ships, orbs, mine fields, and wormholes could be gray or yellow or light blue, and rips could be scarlet or magenta or wildly multicolored.

Pieces 202-220 are game equipment. Other game equipment includes the board 102, and a randomizer. The randomizer may be a non-digital or digital spinner, or one or more dice 222, for example. In some embodiments one die is shared by all players and passed between them as needed to resolve challenges. In other embodiments, each player is provided with their own die. Although standard six-sided dice with sides dot-numbered one through six are shown, dice of other shapes and/or with other numbering or labeling can also be used.

FIG. 3 shows a closer view of some ship fleets. As illustrated, each piece has a front 302 and a back 304. The back sides 304 of ships, orbs, mine fields, and wormholes all match one another, so which piece is which is not known to at least some of the players until the piece is flipped over to reveal its front face 302. In this example, the indicia 212 includes a fleet identifier 306 (e.g., triangle, infinity, star) and a ship class 308 (e.g., Dart, Cruzer, Slayzall). Different embodiments may use different fleet identifiers and/or different classes of ships.

FIG. 4 shows a closer view of some orbs. In this example, each orb has a fleet identifier 306, but in the play example below and in some other embodiments, no distinction is made between orbs—gathering any three orbs will win, for instance. In other embodiments, one of the gathered orbs must be the orb sharing the fleet identifier of the player who gathered the orb, for that player to win. The illustrated orbs show the circled word “orb” as an orb identifier 402, but other text and/or graphics may be used to identify orbs in other embodiments.

FIG. 5 shows a closer view of some mine fields, also referred to as repellers. The illustrated mine fields show an empty set symbol as a mine field identifier 502, but other graphics and/or text may be used to identify mine fields in other embodiments.

FIG. 6 shows a closer view of some space rips 220.

FIG. 7 shows a closer view of some wormholes. The illustrated wormholes show an alpha or beta symbol as a wormhole identifier 702, but other text and/or graphics may be used to identify wormholes in other embodiments.

FIG. 8 shows an example game configuration after some play between two players (not shown). Some pieces are face up (revealed), while others are still hidden (face down). Some orbs have been collected into respective piles 802 of the players, and some ships have been vaporized (vaped) and removed from play off the board 804.

Example Game Guide One (Space Ripz™ et al.)

Shown below is an example draft guide for some examples of a strategic memory game. As with the other examples herein, individual features may be repeated, omitted, renamed, combined differently, or otherwise evident in a given example.

All marks are the property of their respective owners, and no sponsorship or affiliation is implied or asserted between owners of rights in original games and the owner of the present disclosure and its associated rights. Some of the possible names for embodiments of the game are: SPACE RIPZ™ SLAYZALL™ SPIRAL ORBS™ STARLORDZ DOMAIN™ ORBS AND EMPIRES™ STAR BOSS™ MISSION MASH™ DIVIDE THE GALAXY™ SPACE RIPS™ ORB FLEET™ RIPS IN SPACE™ SPACE RIFTERS™ REMEMBER SPACE™ SPLIT THE GALAXY™ STELLARIFT™ STELLARIPS™ (with or without blank spaces, e.g. SPACERIPZ™)

This is a strategy and memory game for 2 to 6 players, suggested for ages 8 and older, typically lasting 15-30 minutes. Each player commands a Fleet in a quest for hidden Orbs and control of the Spiral Galaxy, while avoiding dangerous Mine Fields, taking advantage of Wormholes, and navigating around Space Rips created during the game.

Set Up

Shuffle 902 together 8 Mine Fields, 2 Wormholes (4 in a variation), and N Orbs (# players:N)=(2:4, 3:4, 4:5, 5:5, 6:6). Take turns placing 904 them face down in the Spiral Galaxy on the board. Place the Mine Fields, Wormholes, and Orbs blindly, without knowing which is placed where. The following table also shows the number of Orbs:

Number of Number of Orbs Players Initially in Play 2 4 3 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 Each player owns one Fleet of ships, including 1 Slayzall, 1 Dart, and 5 Cruzers. Take turns placing all your ships face down on the board, except for one Cruzer each, which you place last and place face up. You will know which kind of ship you are placing face down in each case, but keep that hidden from the other players. Each player also gets one of the dice, to use in battles.

Play

On your turn, take 906 up to two of the available actions:

-   -   Move 908 one of your own revealed (face-up) ships one space;     -   Challenge 910 any piece (revealed or hidden) with one or two of         your own revealed ships; or     -   Rip 912 a hole in one space with one of your revealed Cruzers         that is adjacent to the space.         If you do not have any revealed ships, then the following         actions are also available:     -   Move 908 any hidden (face down) piece; or     -   Challenge 910 one hidden piece with another hidden piece.         To challenge, the challenger and the target must be adjacent.         First the challenge is declared. Then any hidden challenger or         target piece is flipped 914 face up to reveal 914 its identity         943. Finally, the result of a challenge is determined by         consulting 944 a table 945 such as the following example:

Challenger Target Result Challenger Target Result Slayzall Cruzer Cruzer Slayzall Slayzall Battle vaped Slayzall Dart Dart Cruzer Cruzer Battle vaped Slayzall Minefield Slayzall Dart Dart Battle flung Minefield Slayzall Slayzall flung Cruzer Slayzall Cruzer Orb or Wormhole Pulled vaped Ship through 2 revealed Revealed Battle Wormhole Orb or Pulled Cruzers Slayzall Ship through Cruzer Dart Dart Wormhole Wormhole Both implode vaped Cruzer Mine Cruzer Any ship Orb Orb collected field vaped Minefield Cruzer Cruzer Orb Any ship Orb collected vaped Dart Slayzall Both Orb Minefield Nothing (lost ships action) vaped Dart Cruzer Dart Rip Any piece Nothing (lost vaped action) Dart Minefield Dart Any piece Rip Nothing (lost vaped action) Minefield Dart Dart Minefield Minefield Nothing (lost vaped action) After a hidden piece is revealed 914, it remains face up through the rest of the game. Vaped ships and imploded Wormholes are removed 916 from play. A flung 918 Slayzall is moved to any place on the board chosen by the player to the right of the Slayzall's owner. Items pulled 920 through a Wormhole are placed adjacent to any other opening of the Wormhole, as chosen by the player taking the turn. Battle victory goes to the high roller; on a tie, roll 922 again. All challenges are one piece against one piece, except when two revealed Cruzers challenge a revealed Slayzall. Once they are face up, Mine Fields are never moved. Rips are placed face up by Cruzers, and never move once they are placed. There is no limit on the number of Rips that can be placed. Ships cannot move into spaces occupied by Rips or Mine Fields. After set up, all of the ships, Orbs, Mine Fields, and Wormholes are revealed only through challenges. The back of all ships, Orbs, Mine Fields, and Wormholes is the same, so they cannot be told apart, and their owner (if they are ships) cannot be told, until they are flipped face up. (variation) You are required to take as many actions (up to the limit) in a given turn as you can. For instance, it's “take two actions” not “take up to two actions.” (variation) If a Slayzall can challenge two Cruzers of another player at the same time, then it must, and the result is determined by Battle. (variation) An Orb can be traded 924 for one of your vaped ships after all your ships are vanquished 938 (vaped 926 or trapped 928). The Orb goes 930 out of play, and the vaped ship comes 932 back into play on any unoccupied space you choose. Specifically, another player does not win by vanquishing your last remaining ship if you still have an Orb, but you must use the Orb to recover one of your ships at that point. Using an Orb to resurrect 932 a ship counts as one action. In a variation, you can exercise 924 the Orb in at any time, provided you have a vaped ship to resurrect.

Winning

There are three ways to win 934. Be the first player to:

-   -   Collect 936 at least 3 Orbs;     -   Vanquish 938 the last remaining ship of any other player's Fleet         (in a variation, the last remaining ships of all the other         players); or     -   Control 940 the largest region 941 of the Spiral Galaxy by         eliminating all ships of the other players from that region.         This may be done through a combination of vanquishing ships and         placing Rips with your Cruzers, for example.         A ship is vanquished when it has been vaped, or when it cannot         reach any ship of another player because some combination of         Mine Fields and Rips is in the way.

In some variations, when a player's fleet is vanquished, that player becomes an advisor on the vanquisher's team. Advisors have decision authority for moves of their respective assigned number of spaces. Whenever the vanquisher rolls a six (for example) as part of a move, the first advisor decides which ship or ships to move. If there are multiple advisors on a given team, each has authority for the next lower unassigned, e.g., the first advisor to join the team decides how to allocate moves when a six is rolled, the second advisor to join the team decides how to allocate moves when a five is rolled, and so on. A player that vanquishes their last ship himself or herself, e.g., by challenging a minefield with their last ship when that ship is a Dart or Cruzer and they have no Orbs to resurrect a ship, becomes an advisor on the team of the player to their right.

In these variations involving advisors, there is no player elimination. In other variations, by contrast, players can be eliminated from the game by being vanquished or by losing their last ship to a Mine Field.

More Variations

In some alternate embodiments, on each turn a player can take 906 up to three actions 907 in any order, but take at most one of any particular kind of action. The kinds of action may be, for example:

(a) Move 908 any of your revealed ships the number of spaces allowed. The number of spaces allowed in a move may be fixed, or variable. In some embodiments, it is one, in some it is two, in some it is three, for example. In some embodiments, the number of spaces allowed in a move is determined by spinning a spinner or rolling one or more dice. In some embodiments the spaces allowed in a move is exact (that many spaces must be moved), and in others the number is only a maximum (move from zero up to the allowed number of spaces). In some embodiments, only one ship can be moved, while in other embodiments the number of spaces allowed can be moved using one or two or more ships. (b) Challenge 910 any other piece (revealed or hidden) using one or more of your revealed ships. (c) Rip 912 one space. That is, place a space rip/space rift/token 220 in a space adjacent one of your revealed Cruzers. In a variation, ships other than Cruzers can also rip space. (d) Peek 942 at a hidden token if you have no revealed ships. If it is one of your ships, you may reveal it. If you still have actions left on this turn, that revelation will open up actions (a), (b), or (c) as possibilities. You may also leave it hidden. If it is not one of your ships, you leave it hidden. In some embodiments, only the peeking player sees the face of the hidden token they are peeking at, unless it is one of their own ships and they choose to reveal it. In some embodiments, if the hidden token is a mine field, it is shown to all players, and then hidden again. In some, if it is a wormhole, it is shown to all players, and then hidden again. In some, it is shown to all players and then hidden again, not matter what it is.

Here are some examples of legal turns in some “move, challenge, rip or peek” embodiments, to help illustrate operation of the equipment during play. For convenience, the players are designated here as Infinity and Vortex.

Example One

First action: Infinity rolls a 4 and moves her Slayzall three spaces until it is adjacent Vortex's Dart. Second action: Infinity's Slayzall challenges Vortex's Dart, and the Dart is vaped. Infinity does not have any Cruzers revealed, so she cannot rip. He does have a ship revealed, so she cannot peek. So her turn is over.

Example Two

Vortex has no ships revealed. First action: He peeks, and sees an Orb. He puts the token back face down. He has no revealed ships, so he cannot move, challenge, or rip. He can only peek once per turn, so his turn is over.

Example Three

Infinity has no ships revealed. First action: She peeks, and sees her Slayzall. She decides not to reveal it, because that will let her continue peeking at hidden pieces. She still has no ships revealed, so she cannot move, challenge, or rip. She can only peek once per turn, so her turn is over.

Example Four

First action: Vortex uses a revealed Cruzer to challenge a hidden piece. It is a Minefield, so the Cruzer is vaped. Second action: Vortex now has no revealed ships, so he peeks and sees another of his Cruzers. He reveals it. Third action: Vortex could either rip a space adjacent the Cruzer, (assuming at least one space there is not already occupied by a token) or else move the Cruzer. He can't do both, because he only has one action left. He can't peek because he has a revealed ship and also (independently) already peeked once this turn. He decides to rip space next to the Cruzer.

Example Five

Infinity has no ships revealed. First action: she peeks, and sees one of her Cruzers. She reveals it. Second action: She uses the Cruzer to challenge an adjacent hidden piece. It is an Orb, which she collects. Third action: She rolls a four, and moves the Cruzer four spaces.

Example Game Guide Two (Slayzall™)

Shown below is another example draft guide for some examples of a strategic memory game. As with the other examples herein, individual features may be repeated, omitted, renamed, combined differently, or otherwise evident in a given example.

Slayzall™ Player Guide

Slayzall™ is a competitive strategy and memory game for 2 to 6 players, suggested for ages 8 and older, typically lasting 15-45 minutes. During the game, each player will:

-   -   Command a fleet of ships in a quest for hidden Orbs and control         of the spiral galaxy!     -   Avoid deadly Minefields, slip through Wormholes, and rip space         itself to fence in the other players!     -   Win if they can, by collecting three Orbs, or by vanquishing         opposing fleets, or by seizing and holding the largest piece of         the galaxy!         Equipment (some versions vary)     -   Slayzall™ Player Guide     -   Slayzall™ Spiral Galaxy Board     -   6 Orb pieces     -   2 Alpha Wormhole pieces, 2 Beta Wormhole pieces     -   8 Minefield pieces     -   20 Space Rip (“Rip”) pieces     -   6 Fleets (infinity, vortex, . . . ), each with 1 Slayzall, 1         Dart, and 5 Rippers     -   6 dice

Set Up Features.

Turn the following feature pieces face down and mix them together so no one knows which is which: 8 Minefields, 4 Wormholes, and the correct number of Orbs. For 2 or 3 players use four Orbs; for 4 or 5 players use five Orbs; and for 6 players use six Orbs. Each player gets one die. Roll. The high roller goes first, then the player on their right, and so on. Take turns placing the face down Minefields, Wormholes, and Orbs in the spiral galaxy on the board. Try to remember the feature positions, even though you don't know which ones are Orbs, which are Minefields, and which are Wormholes.

Ships.

Each player's fleet of ships includes one Slayzall, one Dart, and five Rippers. Take turns placing all your ships face down on the board, except for one Ripper each, which you place last and place face up. You will know which kind of ship you are placing face down when you place it, but keep that information hidden from the other players. Try to remember where they placed their ships, even though you don't know what kind of ship is placed in each location.

Meet Your Fleet

“I am your Slayzall. I collect Orbs. I battle other Slayzalls, or a pair of Rippers. I vanquish the Darts I attack, but if a sneaking Dart attacks me then we are both destroyed. I will survive a Minefield, although it flings me across the galaxy to a place chosen by your opponent. I do not rip space.” “We are your Rippers. We collect Orbs. We battle other Rippers. A Ripper alone cannot defeat a Slayzall, but two of us together will battle a Slayzall. A Ripper will always destroy a Dart. We cannot survive a Minefield. But we can each make rips in space that no ship can enter.” “I am your Dart. I collect Orbs. I battle other Darts. If I attack a mighty Slayzall, we are both destroyed. But I must be clever: if a Slayzall or a Ripper attacks me, I am lost. I cannot survive a Minefield, and I cannot make rips in space.”

Play

There are five kinds of actions: move, challenge, rip, peek, and restore. Take actions in any order, but during your turn take at most one of any kind of action. On your turn, take up to three of the actions that are currently available to you. The number of actions available may change during your turn, e.g., when you have no Orbs collected and no ships revealed the only available action is to peek, but if your peek finds a ship and you reveal it, then moving, challenging, or ripping may become possible.

-   -   Move 908 one or more of your revealed ships a total number of         spaces up to the number you roll on your die. A ship can only         move from its current location to an unoccupied space, or into         and through a Wormhole opening to an unoccupied space adjacent         to one of the Wormhole's other openings, chosen by you. Travel         from a space adjacent a Wormhole opening, through the Wormhole,         to a space adjacent a different opening of the Wormhole, counts         as moving one space.     -   Challenge 910 any adjacent piece (revealed or hidden) using one         or more of your revealed ships.     -   Rip 912 one unoccupied space that is adjacent to one of your         revealed Rippers. Rips are not Wormholes. Rips cannot be entered         or challenged, and are never hidden.     -   Peek 942 at a hidden piece, but only if you have no revealed         ships. If you find one of your ships, you may reveal it or leave         it hidden. If you still have actions left on this turn,         revealing a ship opens up moving, challenging, and ripping as         possibilities. If it is not one of your ships, then leave it         hidden.     -   Restore 924 (a.k.a. revive, etc.) one of your vanquished ships         by trading a collected Orb for it. The Orb goes out of play, and         your ship comes back into play on any unoccupied space you         choose.

Challenges

Who can bring a challenge:

-   -   Only revealed ships can challenge other pieces.     -   Minefields, Orbs, Wormholes, and Rips do not bring challenges.     -   Hidden pieces do not bring challenges, even if they are ships.         How to challenge:     -   First, declare the challenger and what target it is challenging.     -   If the challenged target is face down, flip it over to reveal         its identity.     -   After a hidden piece is revealed, it remains face up through the         rest of the game.         The result of a challenge is determined 944 by rules 945 such as         these:     -   Any ship challenging an Orb collects the Orb.     -   Any ship challenging a Wormhole is pulled through it to a space         adjacent one of the Wormhole's other openings, chosen by the         ship's owner. Wormhole openings themselves are never occupied at         the end of an action.     -   A Dart or Ripper challenging a Minefield are destroyed.     -   A Slayzall challenging a Minefield is flung across the galaxy to         an empty space chosen by the player to the right of the         Slayzall's owner.     -   Rips cannot be challenged, or entered, or moved, or removed.     -   Challenging your own ship destroys neither ship.     -   All challenges are one-against-one, except between a Slayzall         and two adjacent Rippers.     -   A ship challenging another player's ship of the same class         provokes a battle, e.g., Slayzall vs. Slayzall, Ripper vs.         Ripper, or Dart vs. Dart. High roller wins the battle. On ties,         roll again.     -   A Slayzall challenging another player's Dart or a single Ripper         wins.     -   If a Slayzall can challenge two adjacent Rippers, it must either         make no challenge, or else challenge both of the Rippers to         provoke a battle. The Slayzall cannot challenge just one of the         two Rippers.     -   A single Ripper challenging another player's Slayzall loses. But         two adjacent Rippers can challenge a Slayzall and provoke a         battle.     -   A Ripper challenging another player's Dart wins.     -   A Dart challenging another player's Ripper loses.     -   A Dart challenging another player's Slayzall destroys both the         Slayzall and itself.

Winning

You can win in three different ways. Be the first player to achieve any of these goals:

-   -   Collect 936 at least 3 Orbs.     -   Vanquish 938 the last remaining ships of all the other players.         A ship is vanquished when it has been destroyed, or when it is         trapped by some combination of Minefields and Rips that prevent         it from challenging any other player's ships.     -   Control 940 the largest region of the spiral galaxy by         eliminating all ships of the other players from that region.         This may be done through a combination of vanquishing ships and         placing Space Rips with your Rippers, for example.

Some Example Turns Example One

-   -   First action (move): Infinity rolls a five and moves her         Slayzall three spaces until it is adjacent Vortex's Dart. She         has no other revealed ships to move, so she moves only the         Slayzall.     -   Second action (challenge): Infinity's Slayzall challenges         Vortex's Dart, and the Dart is vanquished. Infinity does not         have any Rippers revealed, so she cannot rip. She does have a         ship revealed (her Slayzall), so she cannot peek. She has no         collected Orbs, so she cannot restore a ship. So her turn is         over, even though she took only two actions.

Example Two

Vortex has no ships revealed.

-   -   First action (peek): He peeks, and sees an Orb. He puts the         piece back face down. He has no revealed ships, so he cannot         move, challenge, or rip. He can only peek once per turn, and he         has no collected Orbs to restore a vanquished ship, so his turn         is over after the first action.

Example Three

Infinity has no ships revealed.

-   -   First action (peek): She peeks, and sees her Slayzall. She         decides not to reveal it, because that will let her continue         peeking at hidden pieces. She still has no ships revealed, so         she cannot move, challenge, or rip. She has no collected Orb to         restore with, and she can only peek once per turn, so her turn         is over after the first action.

Example Four

-   -   First action (challenge): Vortex uses a revealed Ripper to         challenge a hidden piece. It is a Minefield, so the Ripper is         vanquished.     -   Second action (peek): Vortex now has no revealed ships, so he         peeks and sees another of his Rippers. He reveals it.     -   Third action (rip): Vortex has no collected Orb to restore his         first Ripper. He could either rip a space adjacent the second         Ripper, (assuming at least one space there is not already         occupied by a piece) or else move the second Ripper. He can't do         both, because he only has one action left. He can't peek because         he has a revealed ship and also he has already peeked once this         turn. As his third action, he decides to rip space next to the         second Ripper, to help build a barricade.

Example Five

Infinity has no ships revealed.

-   -   First action (peek): she peeks, and sees one of her Rippers. She         reveals it.     -   Second action (challenge): She uses the Ripper to challenge an         adjacent hidden piece. It is an Orb, which she collects.     -   Third action (move): She rolls a four, and moves the Ripper four         spaces.         Copyright 2015 Smiling Pines LLC. All Rights Reserved. Slayzall         is a mark of Smiling Pines LLC.

Additional Examples

Additional Example #1 includes a computer-readable storage medium configured with data and with instructions that when executed by at least one processor causes the processor(s) to perform a process including: emitting from a first piece on a game board onto a first location of the game board a barrier piece which according to game rules (a) cannot subsequently be moved and (b) prevents all other game pieces from occupying the first location during a game; and a second piece moving to a game board location which is not occupied by the barrier piece.

Additional Example #2 includes a computer system including: a logical processor; a memory in operable communication with the logical processor; a digital representation of a first fleet of ships owned by a first player and placed on a board, wherein the identities of at least two ships of the first fleet are initially hidden from a second player who does not own the first fleet; a digital representation of a second fleet of ships owned by the second player and placed on the board, wherein the identities of at least two ships of the second fleet are initially hidden from the first player, who does not own the second fleet; and software code which interacts with the processor and memory to provide battle results in response to a ship of the first fleet challenging a ship of the second fleet.

Additional Example #3 includes an article of manufacture including: a non-digital game board, at least two non-digital fleets, each fleet containing at least two ships, each ship having a front side with indicia indicating an identity of the ship and a back side free of identity indicia, all ship back sides having a sufficiently similar appearance to hide the identity of the ships when only the back sides are visible.

Additional Example #4 includes a process including: placing a plurality of ship pieces, orb pieces, and mine field pieces face down on a board; and then challenging one hidden piece with another hidden piece.

Additional Example #5 includes game play equipment including any of the game pieces, boards, dice, spinners, challenge result tables, guides, and/or barrier pieces disclosed herein or components thereof.

Additional Example #6 includes a process including any combination of any of the steps disclosed herein.

Additional Example #7 includes a computer-readable storage medium configured with data and with instructions that when executed by at least one processor causes the processor(s) to perform a process disclosed herein.

CONCLUSION

Although particular examples are expressly described herein as processes, as configured media, or as systems, it will be appreciated that discussion of one type of example also generally extends to other example types.

For instance, the descriptions of processes also help describe configured media, and help describe the technical effects and operation of systems and manufactures. It does not follow that limitations from one example are necessarily read into another. In particular, processes are not necessarily limited to the data structures and arrangements presented while discussing systems or manufactures such as configured memories.

Reference herein to an example having some feature X and reference elsewhere herein to an example having some feature Y does not exclude from this disclosure examples which have both feature X and feature Y, unless such exclusion is expressly stated herein. The term “example” is merely used herein as a more convenient form of “process, system, article of manufacture, configured computer readable medium, and/or other example of the teachings herein as applied in a manner consistent with applicable law.” Accordingly, a given “example” may include any combination of features disclosed herein, provided the example is consistent with at least one claim.

Not every item stated need be present in every example. Although some possibilities are illustrated here by specific examples, examples may depart from these examples. For instance, specific technical effects or technical features of an example may be omitted, renamed, grouped differently, repeated, instantiated in hardware and/or software differently, or be a mix of effects or features appearing in two or more of the examples. Functionality shown at one location may also be provided at a different location in some examples; one of skill recognizes that functionality modules can be defined in various ways in a given implementation without necessarily omitting desired technical effects from the collection of interacting modules viewed as a whole.

As used herein, terms such as “a” and “the” are inclusive of one or more of the indicated item or step. In particular, in the claims a reference to an item generally means at least one such item is present and a reference to a step means at least one instance of the step is performed.

Headings are for convenience only; information on a given topic may be found outside the section whose heading indicates that topic.

All claims as filed are part of the specification.

An “embodiment” herein is an example. Embodiments may freely share or borrow aspects to create other embodiments (provided the result is operable), even if a resulting aspect combination is not explicitly described per se herein. Requiring each and every permitted combination to be explicitly described is unnecessary for one of skill in the art, and would be contrary to policies which recognize that patent specifications are written for readers who are skilled in the art. Formal combinatorial calculations and informal common intuition regarding the number of possible combinations arising from even a small number of combinable features will also indicate that a large number of aspect combinations exist for the aspects described herein. Accordingly, requiring an explicit recitation of each and every combination would be contrary to policies calling for patent specifications to be concise.

While exemplary examples have been described above, it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous modifications can be made without departing from the principles and concepts set forth in the claims, and that such modifications need not encompass an entire abstract concept.

Although the subject matter is described in language specific to structural features and/or procedural acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific technical features or acts described above the claims. It is not necessary for every means or aspect or technical effect identified in a given definition or example to be present or to be utilized in every example. Rather, the specific features and acts and effects described are disclosed as examples for consideration when implementing the claims.

All changes which fall short of enveloping an entire abstract idea but come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope to the full extent permitted by law. 

What is claimed is:
 1. An article of manufacture, namely, game equipment, comprising: a game board; and game pieces which include at least two fleets, each fleet containing at least two ships, each ship having a front side with indicia indicating an identity of the ship and a back side free of identity indicia, all ship back sides having a sufficiently similar appearance to hide the identity of the ships when only the back sides of ships placed on the board are visible.
 2. The game equipment of claim 1, wherein the game pieces also include at least one orb piece.
 3. The game equipment of claim 1, wherein the game pieces also include at least one wormhole piece.
 4. The game equipment of claim 1, wherein the game pieces also include at least one space rip piece.
 5. The game equipment of claim 1, wherein the game board has at least one wormhole entrance designated thereon.
 6. The game equipment of claim 1, wherein the game board and game pieces are implemented in digital form using a computer processor, and the equipment includes code executable by the processor to move the pieces on the board.
 7. The game equipment of claim 1, wherein the game board and game pieces are non-digital and the pieces can be moved on the board during a game without using a computer processor.
 8. A process of playing a game, the process comprising: emitting from a first piece on a game board onto a first location of the game board a barrier piece which according to game rules (a) cannot subsequently be moved and (b) prevents all other game pieces from occupying the first location during a game; and a second piece moving to a game board location which is not occupied by the barrier piece.
 9. The game play process of claim 8, further comprising placing a plurality of ship pieces and orb pieces face down on the board.
 10. The game play process of claim 8, further comprising placing a plurality of mine field pieces face down on the board.
 11. The game play process of claim 8, further comprising challenging one hidden piece with another hidden piece.
 12. The game play process of claim 8, further comprising consulting a table to determine a result of a challenge based on the identity of the pieces involved in the challenge.
 13. A process of playing a game with a game board and game pieces, the process comprising at least two of the following acts: moving one or more identity-revealed game pieces a total number of spaces up to a specified number; moving a game piece into and through an opening of a wormhole to an unoccupied space adjacent to another opening of the wormhole; challenging an adjacent piece (revealed or hidden) using an identity-revealed piece; ripping an unoccupied space that is adjacent to a revealed ripper piece; peeking at a hidden piece, and revealing an identity of that piece to another player; peeking at a hidden piece, and leaving an identity of that piece hidden from another player; restoring a vanquished piece into play by trading at least one collected orb piece for the vanquished piece; or emitting from a piece on a game board onto a location of the game board a barrier piece which according to game rules (a) cannot subsequently be moved and (b) prevents all other game pieces from occupying the location during a game.
 14. The game play process of claim 13, comprising at least three of the listed acts.
 15. The game play process of claim 13, comprising at least four of the listed acts.
 16. The game play process of claim 13, comprising at least five of the listed acts.
 17. The game play process of claim 13, further comprising controlling a region of the game board.
 18. The game play process of claim 13, comprising flinging a piece to a location on the game board.
 19. The game play process of claim 13, comprising trapping a piece.
 20. The game play process of claim 13, comprising winning the game by collecting a predetermined number of orb pieces. 